


For the Two of Us

by Silverladys



Category: Ben 10 Series
Genre: Drama, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-14
Updated: 2013-03-14
Packaged: 2017-12-05 07:08:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/720248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverladys/pseuds/Silverladys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It´s all set for Kevin and Gwen´s wedding, but Gwen´s family is almost driving them crazy with their demands.<br/>Could someone understand them?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter one

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this long time before Omniverse- to be exact, after Ben 10 000 Returns. That´s why Ben just has the powerfs of his aliens instead of transforming into them. You may consider this an alternate future (and better, judging by the way things are now)
> 
> I don´t own Kevin, Gwen or Ben, they belong to Cartoon Network (and if they were mine, Omniverse never would have happened!)

he greatest proof of love ever, Kevin concluded in a sunny afternoon, wasn´t to be able to give your life for the ones you love. It wasn´t also their passion and desire keep bursting with the same intensity after years, despite all the obstacles, the fights and periods of separation caused by college or plumber missions. Not even - although that had a great value, too - was the guarantee that he would be still loved if someday he ever became a monster again.

No, the greatest proof of love ever was to remain up there, at the top of Gwen´s house, when every fiber of his being craved for him to run back to his house, get his teleporting device and go to the extreme opposite of the universe until the madness finished. "We should have eloped to Las Vegas as Ben suggested", he thought "If we had done that, we´d be finishing our honeymoon now. Instead, we´ll have to wait for one month yet. And for what? Maybe for us to get completely crazy. I wonder if you can find somewhere straight jackets that look like tuxedos."

Even his mother didn´t give him any support. Just a few minutes inside the house had been enough to contaminate sweet Mrs. Levin with the virus that turns every woman involved in a wedding party into a paranoid, hysterical monster. The only female that seemed to keep her sanity intact was precisely the cause of the turmoil. Still, Kevin suspected that it was a matter of time until she went insane, too. "Probably very soon" he concluded as he noticed a movement coming up and towards his hiding place.

Now a young woman with 20 years old, Gwen could fly freely without any need of making mana stairs. Kevin noticed that she didn´t look mad at him, but didn´t look surprised of seeing him up there either. 

"It´s bad luck to see your groom before the wedding," he joked with a fake grin.

"Cut it out, Kevin. You know that´s only at the day before it. Could you sit aside, please?" she asked.

Surprised and relieved, he complied, allowing for Gwen to sit beside him. Sitting with a huff, she folded her legs and crossed her arms over them, so she could have a support for her tired head. They remained in silence for a few instants, until Kevin risking taking a look. She still hadn´t moved a muscle or hair.

"Are you all right?" he asked, nudging her with a finger.

"Uh?" Gwen looked up with a start. She had forgotten his presence completely.

"Just a little tired and with a headache" the young woman said as she gave her fiancée a reassuring smile "I really need a break."

"It´s quite a mess down there." he agreed with a nod, causing Gwen to give him a suspicious look.

"You´re not going to say ' I told you'?" she inquired in disbelief.

"Nah. I´m leaving that for Ben. Besides, you look like to have received enough punishment."

"Some punishment! Do you know how hard is to choose a flower girl from four little girls?"

He shook his head, and by his expression it was crystal clear that he expected to never have that 'pleasure'.

"It´s not the way you´re thinking. The little girls are nothing, their mothers whine much louder than them. Not mentioning the remarks I had to hear because I chose someone out of my family for my maid of honor. I´d really like to know how my cousins did when they got married." she huffed "And I had to endure all that having eaten only an apple during the entire afternoon."

"Only one apple? What happened to all those snacks your mother did? Your family devoured it all?"

"I don´t know. They didn´t even let me have a glimpse of them. Aunty Sandra suggested that I should be put on a diet so I could be thin and elegant at the day of our wedding, and the rest of the females in my family loved the idea. But don´t worry." Gwen added, giving her groom a reassuring look "Emily promised she would hide something for me to eat later."

Kevin´s eyes bulged in horror. True that Gwen no longer was a slightly built teenager, but she was not fat at all. Both the practice of sports at her college days and the plumber training had sculpted her body into glorious, hallucinating curves that he adored. Why did women still believe that looking like a skeleton is a synonymous of beauty?

"No need to wait for Emily" he stated as he pushed a greasy bag of paper brown from his jacket and pushed into Gwen´s hands " Here. I stole this from the kitchen."

Inside the bag, she found sandwiches and other salty snacks. They were all mixed and misshapen due the hour passed into Kevin´s pocket, but Gwen would have devoured even Max´ marinated worms. 

"I should have brought a picnic basket" Kevin laughed as he watched her digging in. 

"Yeah, you should" Gwen agreed at the same tone, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand" since it´s obvious you´ve been prepared to stay a long time here. Ben was that hard to stand?"

"What, you don´t know what happened?" he asked, dropping his jaw in disbelief. 

"No. I hadn´t seen any of you guys since you two left last night to get a null void producer and hid it under the altar. I knew you were here because of your mana signatures and because I saw Ben´s car out there, but I didn´t hear anything from any of you. Though I was not surprised when I felt you climbing up the roof." she concluded with a half - smile, receiving a smirk in response. 

"Yeah, you were happy because I gave you an excuse to leave, uh?" he teased, nudging her again "Admit it"

"Don´t change the subject" Gwen snapped impatiently "What happened between you two?"

"Nothing. You know that I don´t pay attention to Tennyson´s delusions... okay, I don´t pay much. But many people do. Some of your aunties - or cousins, I don´t know - felt that, since Ben will be my best man, I didn´t have actually to worry about the security and was just using that as an excuse to hang around."

"So they dragged you here" Gwen concluded with a sigh "And you came up here because you found too humiliating to help choosing the decoration or the cake?"

"I´d have been more than happy of helping to choose the cake. But they locked me up for almost two hours into your father´s office to write my wedding vows!"

"Sorry" Gwen covered her mouth to suppress a laugh. Kevin was able to write great thesis about any engines or energy source, but it was a mental torture for him to write anything mushy "Got something?"

"Just a few bubbles " Kevin said, showing the palm of his hand "and two baskets of recycling trash. After that, those crazy women decided to cut my hair, so I would match the groom doll that they´re choosing for the cake. If Julie hadn´t pretended to trip and got in the way, I wouldn´t have even been able to climb up here!"

"You´re kidding!" this time she laughed. 

"I´ swear I´m not! Well, I overdid a little about Julie´s part. But the cake catalogue has 40 pages with groom dolls - all of them with short hair!"

"Gee, what a lack of imagination. But you could make good use of a trim, honey" the young woman observed as she run a hand through the black hair that reached the middle of his back.

He glared at her in a "Est tu Brute" way. 

"I´m not suggesting for you to crop it short! "Gwen explained irritated "You could cut it in a mullet till the basis of your neck, like you used to do when you had 17. I found your hair pretty like that..." Gwen trailed off since he looked away, still sour. Her patience finally wore off "At least you have not to anguish about what you´re going to wear !Just one smoking and presto - you´re dressed! " she outburst, letting all her frustration take over.

Kevin looked back at her, shocked with Gwen´s bitter tone.

"I thought that choosing the wedding dress was the brides´ favorite part" he said.

"Maybe, for the brides who can choose their gowns by themselves," Gwen explained her voice still bitter "But whenever I find a dress I like, everyone says it makes me look old or fat. Worse, none of the models I like matches to the laced veil that belonged to my grand-grandmother."

"To your grand-grandmother?! Gee, it must be all moldy and eaten by the moths!"

"Not at all, but it´s yellowed, and well... Grandma Grace insists that´s nothing that a good wash and 'a few' stitches won´t solve," Gwen said, making the double signal with her fingers "and mom asked me to keep my mouth shut. Since my grand-grandmother, all the women of my mother´s family married wearing that veil, so it´s a great honor my grandma is " she finished, in a forced jovial tone that couldn´t disguise her sarcasm.

Kevin felt sorry for her. He wasn´t a pool of sensitivity, but his mother had told him several times that clothes might be as important for women (even for women that are not overly futile or vain, like Gwen) as his car was for him. In such an important event as a woman´s marriage, then, the dress could represent an unforgettable moment as a shining star or a humiliating torture.

"And you´re going to wear that old rag so mommy and grammy will be happy," he stated, wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders. Despite Kevin´s tender tone, Gwen noticed he was bristling at that familiar imposition.

"It´s okay, Kevin." she soothed, forcing a reassuring smile "We have to give in a little, too. It´s already being hard to mom to accept that our alien friends are going to be in that part with the members of our families."

Kevin realized that his fiancée was referring to other things more serious than separated parties. However, she preferred not talking about the other issue because she knew how much it upset him. He thought of something that could take them both from that depressing mood.

"I think that your mom has changed a lot, since she doesn´t care about mixing her family with the Tennysons. But," he continued, lifting a finger "if someone else´ll ask me if I´m not going to marry in my plumber suit, I swear I´ll..."

"You´ll what?" Gwen asked, rising her eyebrow.

"I`ll say I´m going to marry in my trunks!"

The statement caught Gwen completely off-guard, as Kevin expected. She burst out laughing, followed by her fiancée.

"If you´ll do that, I´ll join you. A bikini would be much prettier than the dresses Aunty Vera wants for me..." she was interrupted by a finger on her lips.

"Sh, sh, shhh..." Kevin soothed, his face coming closer to hers "Can you forget all abot your aunties for at least a few seconds?"

"How about for one our?" she asked back, rising her face to meet his. They hadn´t a moment of privacy in such a long, long time... 

"Eww, that´s obscene," said a voice in a fake disgusted tone "Can´t you wait until the wedding night?"

Years passed, but many things never changed. Pretending not to hear, the couple deliberately lingered on the kiss before paying attention to the greatest hero of the Earth. 

"First, it´s not night yet, Charlie Harper." Kevin scoffed as soon as their lips parted "Two, you´re not anyone to talk after you were caught with Kate inside of your mom´s closet..."

"Her name´s Kimberly." Ben corrected. 

"Three,"the groom continued as if he hadn´t been interrupted "I miss the days when you turned into an alien. You didn´t look so ugly then."

"Enough, Kevin" Gwen admonished as she pushed him to look at her cousin "Mom asked for us to come down?"

Still with the Spider Monkey powers, Ben crouched in front of the couple. He had become a handsome young man, slightly taller than Kevin and almost as brawny as him.

"She´s sent her apologizing, since you really need a rest, but she can´t handle things by herself anymore. That little cousin of yours that was going to get the rings got a chicken pox, cousin Rachel and Emily are yanking each other´s hair and your aspirants to flower girl joined them to mess up the living room. And Aunty Joyce is demanding for Julie to change the her dress because it doesn´t match to the hat she´s going to wear..."

"What? Rachel and Emily are fighting because Sid caught a chicken pox?" Gwen wrinkled her forehead, trying to decipher Ben´s confusing message. 

"Joyce´s giving Julie a new hat?" Kevin added in. 

"Noooo. Rachel said in front of Emily that classical music is "so last century". She wants that the band of her boyfriend will play at the wedding, instead of..."

"Over my dead body!" Gwen snapped out, as she pulled up on her feet to run and jump out of the roof. Anybody who didn´t know her better would have taken a scare, but the two men just watched in silence as the red-haired enchantress floated like a feather until her feet touched the grass below.

"And Aunty Joyce said that HER hat doesn´t... " Ben bellowed at her while Gwen run inside the house. Kevin cut him off with a wave of hand.

"Forget it, Ben. She´s gone. Let´s get out of here before someone´ll come and drag us back to that hell. Can you call Big Chill?"

"What happened to your teleport device?"

"At home. You know Max has forbidden me from using it off-work."

"As if that kept you." Ben sighed as he slapped the Ultramatrix dial "Big Chill!"

But, even with Big Chill´s invisibility their escape took a little more than they expected. A group of kids of Ben and Gwen´s family was surrounding and awing at the big hero´s wonderful car. Luckily, the security system developed by Kevin kept them from entering the vehicles, but one of the kids sat on its front and started making poses, so his friends could take pictures with their cell phones.

"Look at me! I´m uncle Ben! Get another picture, Dean, so I´ll can photoshop it!" he bragged, but a slightly smaller kid stepped forward and tugged at the posing boy´s arm.

"You´ve been there for ages, Terry! It´s my turn!" he complained.

"Oh yeah? Why?!" Terry threatened as he pushed the small boy down. As an answer, the pushed kid and a friend jumped over him, trying to take Terry from the car. The rest of the gang yelled in encouragement. Ben was about to give up Big Chill´s invisibility and shoo them off his car when a hoarse, threatening voice called from the house.

"What are you brat doings out there?!" it roared.

XXXXXXXXX

 

A few minutes later, Kevin was still laughing. 

"I swear, I never saw a bunch of brats run so fast!" he cracked out "Even Vilgax never scared someone so good, I bet"

"Even I got a scare", Ben also laughed as he drove through Bellwood streets "I knew a modulator could change your voice, but I didn´t know it could make you play ventriloquist. "

"That´s a new ability. Courtesy of Levin Inc." the black haired man bragged, flashing a line of white perfect teeth.

"Mr. Smoothie?" Ben offered. Kevin stared at him in disbelief. 

"I was just kidding" the green-eyed hero explained "It´s obvious that you could use something stronger than smoothies"

"I won´t say no, since you´re the one driving here."

"I meant a coffee! " Ben protested with a disapproving grimace "Gwen would kill me if I took you out to get plastered. She must be already hitting the ceiling because we´ve left her to take all the trouble by herself."

"Indeed. But she´s mad because she can´t come with us this time" Kevin finished bitterly, the good humor of seconds ago melting away like cigarette smoke. He rested his weight at the passenger seat and crossed his arms under his head absently.

Ben peered at him by the corner of his eyes. Even before eaves dropping his best friends at the roof, he had realized they were no longer happy with the marriage preparatives. No wonder, since that spectacle of flowers, arches and crowds scheduled for the next month had anything to do with the couple. Ben had once heard his cousin sigh that they should have a ticket booth at the church entrance. Since the young couple decided to make their union official, Gwen had idealized a private ceremony, only with their very closest relatives and friends around. Knowing things could not be that simple, Ben and Kevin had suggested that the marriage was celebrated secretly, only with Ben, Max and Julie as their witnesses. But that idea shocked the young woman.

"You´re sounding like Kevin and I are Romeo and Juliet! For heaven´s sake, five years have passed. We´re not teenagers anymore. And my parents like Kevin now. "she insisted.

However, Gwen´s parents didn´t receive the news as happily as she had expected. Not that they (still) disapproved their daughter´s choice, but Gwen and Kevin were still too young. He still was at college (Studying hard, Kevin had finished high school and got a vacant for Engineering, thanks to Gwen and Max´ help) while Gwen had got her diploma a couple of years ago. Couldn´t they wait until Kevin´s graduation? There was too many discussion and arguing until the older couple relented it. However, Natalie stated that at least they had a traditional wedding ceremony and their entire families were present, too.

"No matter how much they say they like me" Kevin had told Ben in private, a while later "deep down they still hoped that Gwen could get tired of waiting for me and got some little doctor of Harvard. One with a traditional family and a shoe-in for the White House." Ben remembered when his own parents finally dropped their prejudices towards Kevin and started treating him more affectionately, and how happy Kevin had felt with that. It was important for the young Osmosian to be accepted by the rest of the Tennysons, and the apparent rejection of his in-laws-to-be had hurt Kevin more than he admitted. Ben started suspecting that his almost brother wasn´t enduring all the torturing preparatives only because of his love for Gwen.

Ben thought about the yellowed veil, the kids messing up his car and all those people nosing and saying should or not be done - people related to him and Gwen, but still complete strangers for them. Aunty Natalie often said that family was more important than anything, even saving the universe. But did the members of the treasured side of her family really care about the bride and groom? Did any of them ever stop to wonder what the couple really wanted or how they felt?

"Earth calling Ben. Weren´t we supposed to have a coffee somewhere?" Kevin suddenly broke up the silence "We´ve already passed three coffee shops, hero." 

"Sorry. I guess that I took unconsciously Mr. Smoothie´s route." Ben answered with a fake grin "Out of habit, you know." 

 

"Mr. Smoothie´s not this way." Kevin hissed, his eyebrow arching in the way that made him famous in interrogatories. "Make Levin suspect and you´re dead," it was a famous proverb/joke among the Plumbers. 

"I meant the Burger Shack" Ben fixed up quickly" They´ve built a new one a few quarters from here. We could make use of something more nutritive than a coffee. "

Kevin admitted he was hungry, too. Any remaining suspects were shrugged off, and Ben breathed in relief. Staring at the mirror, his green eyes took the famous resolute expression they always had when their owner entered the battlefield.

"It´s hero time!"


	2. Capter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gwen learns at the hardest way that, no matter how someone changes, that´ll not make any difference for certain people.

"Gwendolyn, stop fussing and get out right now, or I´ll drag you out!" Grandma Grace called, in a raspy tone that would have shocked anyone who didn´t know her very deeply. Although Gwen´s maternal grandmother had her bossy temper from the women in her family, she preferred smoother methods to get things done her way, like emotional blackmail. Only on very rare occasions could the others have glimpses of her true nature underneath her well-combed hair, pearl necklace and pastel colored silk shirts. 

Everything was set for Kevin and Gwen´s wedding - the flowers, the food, Julie´s maid of honor dress (changed, so it would match Aunty Joyce´s hat) - everything but the bride´s gown. Any model of dress she would like was promptly dismissed by the familiar committee led by Grandma Grace, who was all set about using her late mother´s veil in the ceremony. Frank suggested sarcastically that perhaps they should have Galliano drawing a special gown, which earned him a furious glare from his wife. Finally, a work colleague of Natalie recommended bridal shop to them. According to her, it was very expensive, but their salespeople were specialists in solving bride problems.

Reluctantly, Gwen left the changing booth and presented herself to her mother and grandmother. Since she and Kevin had decided to make their union official, Gwen had fantasized pleasant moments choosing her dress helped by Emily or Julie and exchanging hot jokes . However, both her best female friends had schedules of their own that day. Anyway, none of her female friends would feel comfortable with Grandma Grace around. Through the last days the old woman had been stuck to her granddaughter like a barnacle on a rock. Natalie had joined them because she had good taste and knew better how to deal with her mother´s excesses.

"You look like a princess, sweetheart!" Grandma cheered when she saw Gwen trudging towards them. "Your Kevin will fall on his back when he´ll see you!"

"He´ll certainly do it... from cracking up too much" Gwen thought. The only thing good in that dress was its ivory, slightly yellowed color, which matched perfectly to the veil´s. Its style, however, was a caricature version of something taken from a movie about the 17th or 18th Century. It was high-necked, with puffy sleeves so big that looked like balloons or camel humps. Its large, bell-shaped skirts had dramatic draperies evolving its large hips, which would make anyone think of theatre curtains. As much as she tried, Gwen couldn´t smile. 

"But even princess need to breath occasionally", she complained, tugging at the tight collar. The balloon sleeve brushed her face when she did that "I can´t raise my arms, or these 'bumps' will hit my face!"

"You´re not going to raise your arms in the wedding, young woman," the old woman admonished "This dress is a classic. Pure Victorian style."

"It´s more Elizabethan, mom," Natalie scoffed "These skirts are so large that they´ll knock the reception table over when Gwendolyn´ ll bend to cut the cake." Not awaiting a response, she picked up one of the dresses the salesgirl in charge (whom made her best efforts to not burst laughing at Gwen) offered "This one is very beautiful, too." She said firmly. 

"Suit yourself. You two never like anything I´ll choose!" Grandma Grace complained, pouting her lips as a child.

"Grandma, please,"Gwen tried to calm her. "The dresses you chose when we came here were gorgeous, but they didn´t match to this veil. Maybe it´ll be better if I´ll take it off and try again of those first ones with their original... ouh!" she raised her arms to take the old veil off, causing the sleeve 'bumps' to hit both sides of her face.

Her grandmother gave her such an outraged look that made Gwen feel nastier than Argit.

"You´re talking just like Mary Ann´s daughters. They didn´t want my mother´s veil, too... Jocelyn made the point to say that she preferred marrying naked than 'losing her head' - whatever that means!"

"Losing face, grandma. It´s just…see, it´s too fragile. I´m afraid of ripping it accid..."

"Say it! It´s too old! A smelly, useless rag! Throw it away, I don´t care..." the old woman looked down dramatically. "My grandfather had that veil shipped from Europe, as a symbol of the fortune regained after the war took my family´s riches. My mother, then myself and my sisters and then my Natalie were married in it..." she ranted by the zillionth time. "Her sister didn´t want to wear it, but I didn´t care because I would pass it for my granddaughters. By nobody else wants, all the youngsters don´t want anything that´s not brand new and shining, the old things are worthless..." 

Natalie marched towards her mother as she shot Gwen a "you just couldn´t keep your mouth shut"' look. Both mother and daughter comforted their stubborn matriarch, repeating over and over that the veil still would be worn one last time, that no, it wouldn´t go to the trash can. Gwen started to think that she would have to apologize more twenty times at least when a cell phone called. There was a moment of confusion as the four women - including the salesgirl - checked on whose cell phone was ringing . Finally, Gwen realized it was hers, and took her time retrieving her purse from under her mother and grandmother´s, on the leather chairs of the store and finally picking the phone. A strange relief filled her when she recognized her cousin´s voice.

"Ben? That´s not a good moment. I´ll call y..."

"I´m sorry, Gwen. "Ben cut off hurriedly. "I know you´re busy, but this is an emergency! Kevin´s already on his way to..."

Before he could say anything else, Natalie took the cell from her daughter´s hand.

"Gwendolyn is very busy now. She can´t drop everything and come every time you call." she lectured her nephew before hanging up.

"MOM!" Gwen bellowed in protest as she reached for the phone "Why did you do that?" the younger woman bristled. "Ben couldn´t even tell me what he meant!"

"That´s not much hard to guess. You´ve been all set on those alien activities since you were fifteen. When you´ll start to have your own life?"

"This is MY life, mom! I told you a thousand of times. And Kevin will be there with him..." Gwen argued. Grandma Grace approached and started running her hand through the young woman´s soft hair, in a comforting way.

"They probably have a surprise for you. You´ll see them later", the old woman cooed, speaking as if Gwen was still eight. "Aww, don´t make that worried face. Isn't Ben the most powerful hero in the world? If it´s really serious, he´ll take good care of Kevin and bring him back safe and sound for your wedding."

The way she talked made Kevin look like a baby unable to defend himself, and Gwen frowned at that. Her grandma noticed it and changed her tactics.

"It´s so rare for me to have a chance of seeing my favorite little granddaughter." she fretted. "You never went to see me again through all these years because you were always so busy fighting those space monsters of yours, and I have been so lonely..."

Grandma Grace lived with one of her married daughters, to her in-law and grandkids´ dismay. She had seen Gwen on most of her birthdays and the other way around. Not mentioning the occasional family reunions or the times when Natalie 'dragged' her daughter for a visit to her side of the family. However, both Grace´s frail appearance and that mortally wounded look she always wore when someone told her 'no' made almost impossible to rub those things in her face. Besides, there was also Natalie´s stern look hovering behind Grace´s shoulder. It wasn´t easy enough for Gwen to deal with her mother´s pressures, and both her mother and grandmother's combined powers could put down the resistance of even the most self-assured person in the world. Gwen finally surrendered and lowered her eyes, her annoyance giving in to guilt and to an overwhelming feeling of getting crushed between two stony walls. 

"I think you´re both right..." she sighed.

"Of course we are!" her grandmother gloated. "We love you so much! But you´ve got a point... this dress really is not good for you. Take that thing off, before it´ll pull your eyes out. After we find the perfect dress for you, we´re going to eat some pastries at that coffee shop I saw at the other side of the street."

"That´s the best thing I heard the entire day. I´m starving! " Gwen cheered a little, a weak smile lighting up her face, but her mother arched an eyebrow."

"You weren´t on a diet?" she inquired.

"What for? The poor girl is fine, I´m not going to let her starve just because Sandra went paranoid with healthy," Grace dismissed the issue with a wave of hand.

"That wasn´t what you said that when I was about to marry Frank," her daughter insisted with a bit of jealousy.

"That´s the fun of being a grandmother: doing to your grandkids what you couldn´t to your kids!"

Gwen went back to the booths, laughing as she carried carefully the dress chosen by her mother, so it wouldn´t touch the dusty floor. Distantly, the name of Kevin came to her ears on a whisper; she stopped and turned around to see her grandmother grinning and waving. She frowned slightly, but shrugged and entered the booth she had been using for one hour and a half. With great relief, she freed herself from the 'Victorian" dress and the mould-smelly veil. Both the voices of her mother and grandmother kept coming to her in a confuse murmur. The proof cabins stood a few meters away from the place where the two elder women sat to wait, and the traffic out there would make impossible to understand any word they said; still, they were whispering. Funny... Oh well, she had nothing to do with that. If they were talking with their voices low, it was certainly about something that they didn´t want her to know.

Dejectedly, Gwen studied the dress in her hands. Unlike the one she had dressed in before, this gown was simple and of good taste, but a little plain in Gwen´s opinion, with short sleeves and an almost inexistent V-shaped low-neck. She would have preferred a strapless dress, one with small silver details on its bodice. Probably her mother would have chosen one like this for her, if it wasn´t for Grandma Grace. The respectable matriarch had some restrictions about deep low-necks and bare shoulders, although she had worn both when she was young. Maybe it was about that they were arguing out there? Nah, nonsense.

"I really shouldn´t... I was taught to never eavesdrop. Oh, whatever. Only once won´t hurt."

"Auris Natalie Grace," she muttered. That spell would allow her to hear whatever her mother and grandmother were talking about- and only them. Grandma Grace´s voice came to her ears as clear as she was at Gwen´s side.

"...having an affair when he´s just about to marry my granddaughter! And with a crippled girl!" the old woman sniped. 

"Chh! We say that she is handicapped now. And we don´t even know if it´s true. You know that Rachel is still angry at Gwendolyn and Emily because of that band issue. "

"That´s why you´ve prohibited her to tell anyone else?" the older woman scoffed with a bit of malice. " Hmmm... don´t tell me that you changed your heart about that boy."

There was a long pause before Natalie finally answered.

"Gwendolyn is not a fool, mother." the middle-aged woman said slowly, as if she was measuring her words. "Gossip or not, that only has to do with her and Kevin. I don´t want the rest of our family laughing at Gwendolyn because of that man."

"As if they´re not already doing that. But do as you wish. At least nobody will say that Gwendolyn didn´t marry as a Wilkes woman." she concluded with pride.

Natalie gave such a deep sigh that Gwen could swear that she could have heard it even without the spell.

"When Frank and Ken made me promise that I would respect Gwendolyn´s wishes, I couldn´t imagine that it would be so hard. We expected that her relationship with Kevin wore off naturally while she was at college. But they always found a way to see each other. You know, teleporting or any of these weird tricks they use in their missions."

Grandma Grace had no idea of what teleportation was, so she thought it was some type of virtual communication.

"With this internet thing, today, you can keep touch with people even if you´re at the other side of the world," she started ranting. "When I was young we hadn´t this kind of thing... The letters your father wrote took at least two months to come, that really me. My parents were sure that I would end up tiring myself of this and marrying a son of their friends, who was doing a career in the bank ... But then your father came back with his pockets full of money, so they gave in..."

The flood of remembrances was cut by her daughter.

"Gwendolyn is taking too long." Natalie commented suspiciously. "I wonder if she´s fainted or something?"

Gwen heard the salesgirl ´s voice mumbling something, followed by the sound of steps coming.

"Do you need some help?" the girl asked nicely, as soon as she came close to the booth.

"No, thanks. The zipper got stuck and it was really hard to take this off. Here," Gwen answered as she handed to the girl the 'Victorian' dress through the cabinet curtains ."I´m trying the other one now."

She heard the salesgirl's steps fading away, then her voice reporting to Natalie and Grandma Grace.

"Looks like Sandra wasn´t that paranoid," Gwen´s mother scoffed.

"Talking about your father, it made me remember something," Grandma Grace cut in all of a sudden. " This Kevin - vulgar name - is he a scholar student?"

"No, he´s paying the college tuition. Gwendolyn told me that he´s got a lot of money with some of those thingamabobs he does. One of her friends, from the Donovan companies, is even interested..."

"Oh well. At least he won´t freeload my little pumpkin," the older woman cut off. Apparently, talking positively about Kevin wasn´t that interesting. "Are you sure that his mother is human? She seems too young to have a son of that age."

"Even I would look that young if I let my hair grow and dressed myself as if I had 20." Natalie answered bitterly. "At least she doesn´t get the colors of everything she touches." 

A ruffling sound of curtains turned their heads towards the booths. Gwen was standing outside of it, wearing the jeans and the long-sleeved T-shirt she wore when she entered the shop that afternoon. Both the dress and the veil were carefully folded in her arms. In silence, she made a beeline to the three women.

"The dress didn´t fit?" the salesgirl asked simply.

"I don´t know. Didn´t get to put it on." Gwen said in a neutral tone as she handed her the untouched dress. "I´m sorry to have taken your time." She apologized, before turning to talk to her relatives. "I´m sorry but I´m too worried with Ben and Kevin. They might be in trouble while I´m here." with that, Gwen hoped to go without no further arguing, but Natalie barred her way.

"You´re not going to stand your grandmother up." the middle-aged woman demanded sternly" She crossed two States just to help you with your marriage.".

"It´s okay, Lily." Grandma Grace cooed sadly, although she couldn´t hide completely her spite " If she´s so worried sick is better let her go. Our little Gwendolyn is just afraid of becoming a widow before marrying."

"When you marry a plumber, that´s a risk you run permanently" Natalie replied briskly. 

Gwen narrowed her eyes, the frustration gathered in all those weeks bubbling its way up to her throat, spurred by the way her relatives looked down at the man that meant the world for her. She was reminded of the way her parents reacted when she and Kevin told them they would marry. Her father´s forced smile (I´m happy for you, Gwen), her mother frowning(Isn´t that too soon?) and the deception into Kevin´s eyes. Gwen had tried to cheer him up, insisting that they actually liked him, but they still saw them both as two children. She had been just deceiving herself. He had always known the truth. 

"You´re right." Gwen pretended to agree, her voice cold and sharp. "I ´d never have to worry if I´d marry a doctor. One with a respectable mother, who cropped her hair short, as an old lady must do."

Three gasps were heard, followed by a soft, almost inaudible thump - the dress that the salesgirl was still carrying. There was a tense, short silence, disturbed only by the traffic outside. 

"How...You couldn´t... " Grandma Grace babbled. "Not with all that racket out there! Natalie! I told you YOU were talking too loud!" she admonished her daughter, but Natalie didn´t pay her any attention, her eyes set on her daughter´s hurt figure. Into Natalie´s eyes, successive emotions flashed: shock, understanding, deception, shame, motherly worry...   
She gave a step aside.

"From all people you´re the last one I expected that from." she censored in an inexpressive voice as Gwen walked past her. 

"I never did that before, believe me. But, if it serves as comfort, I´m much more disappointed than you." the young sorcerer answered at the same tone as she made a beeline to her grandmother and gave her the veil back. 

The old woman looked a little scared and her hands shivered as she received the relic. Still, she forced herself to smile.

"You´re not hurt, are you? " she asked "When you come to a certain age you don´t realize what you´re saying. Let me choose a beautiful dress for you, before..."

It occurred Gwen that the entire veil drama could be a scheme of her grandmother to make her give up on marrying Kevin, at least for a while. But, if she accused her grandmother, the old woman could feel ill - or pretend. Anyway, Grandma Grace never would admit to have planned such thing, and Gwen would be pointed as the villainess.

"Thank you, but it´s hopeless." the young enchantress stated. "We could spend the entire day here and we´d never make your veil fit with any of the dresses in this shop. Just like some people never will fit to other´s high standards, as much as they try."

"Gwendolyn!" Natalie bellowed, marching angrily towards her daughter.

Meanwhile, the forgotten salesgirl put the neglected dress on the balcony and leaned herself on it and on her elbows, in order to appreciate the arguing. "I love when anything like that happens" she thought. "It´s much better than watching soap operas."

"I understand you´re hurt, but that doesn´t give you the right to be cross with your grandmother! "Natalie lectured. "Our family..."

"Please, mom. I´ve always treasured my family - and so has Kevin. He liked when you and dad said thank you for him to bring me home safe and sound after a hard mission. He fixed Ken´s car free. He made a point of watching etiquette videos, so he wouldn´t offend us when you invited him to dinner!"

"He watched them with his eyes closed, I bet." her grandmother hissed "That boorish, cunning rascal... he´s been cheating on y..."

"I know everything about these sordid rumors evolving Emily - and they´re nothing but rumors. " Gwen cut her off firmly. "Did you know that Kevin once adapted his car, so Emily could enter it with her wheelchair and go out with us occasionally? So she wouldn´t feel lonely and abandoned anymore?" she paused, more to brush her eyes than to wait for an answer. "Yeah, I guessed you didn´t. Kevin´s not perfect, but he has done too much for others´ sake... If it wasn´t for him, none of us would be alive now - so you two wouldn´t be there saying those awful things about him!" with that, she grabbed her cell phone and purse and started her way toward the door.

"You mean if it wasn´t for Ben Tennyson, right?" the salesgirl asked from her spot on the balcony. Her work colleagues, who were also listening since there weren´t other customers in the shop, agreed with her. Gwen turned around and gave the salesgirl such a glare that the other woman backed away.

"No, I mean Kevin Levin!" she exclaimed, taking a big effort to control herself "The one who nobody gives a second look because his power is 'to get the color of anything he touches'. For me, however, he´s much more of a hero than Ben, because he never worried into having his face stamped on a T-shirt. All he wanted was to be accepted by our family - and what has he received? 'I wish that my daughter had dumped him when she was at college!'" she finished in a falsetto voice.

Natalie cringed as if she had been slapped.

"No one is saying that Kevin is not a good person, sweetie," she apologized, almost begging. She seemed about to cry, too. "It´s just that we wish you had a normal life. There were lots of good young men in Harvard..."

"There were lots of good young men when you studied there, too," Gwen reminded her. "And they had no aliens in their families."

With that, she finally left the bridal shop, but still could hear her grandmother´s ranting at her back. 

"See? Even your daughter thinks the same as m..." 

"Please mom, shut up!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> his chapter twists really surprised me. I had started this fic thinking of it as a romantic comedy; however, as I developed the story in my mind, more and more serious questions popped. According to Dwayne McDuffie, Gwen´s parents don´t like Kevin, although they don´t forbid her from dating him. Especially Gwen´s mother, who not only has shown to be prejudiced against the Tennysons, but also revealed herself a little snobbish (C´mon! Who´d else have handwritten invitations nowadays?)
> 
> I wonder if Gwen´s parents´ feelings toward Kevin will change in the future... or if they´ll still won´t like him, even if he´ll go back to school and have a good career, but will pretend to like in order to not hurt Gwen´s feelings? It´s much easier to fight a xenophobist that insults and tries to hit you physically than one that behaves politely and doesn´t admit his/her prejudices against you. But don´t worry, Ben´s team has many surprises on their pockets. __


	3. Chapter Three

Ben turned off the telephone and clicked on the Ultimatrix. Not to activate any alien´s powers, but to open the ramp of the Rust Bucket IV as well to let Kevin know he was coming. Despite the smooth sound produced by his car, Ben could hear the faint sound of music coming from the bridge, but it silenced abruptly when the car came closer.

The old deposit of airplanes that Kevin used in the old times as lodgings to the Rust Bucket III had given place to a factory a few years before, so now he had landed his new ship in a meadow not much far from Bellwood. It was completely safe, since the ship had advanced defense systems. Ben knew that, while he drove up the ramp and into the ship, a small camera had registered his movements inside his car, as computers analyzed his figure, confirming that the visitor was really Ben Tennyson and not some intruder using a stolen plumber badge. Not that Kevin went paranoid or something. Despite the relative peace of the last months, there was always the possibility of any of the bad guys paying him a visit, or even a two-bit human thief trying to invade the ship after the precious technology. However, it wasn´t this subject that busied Ben´s mind now. Classic music never had been among Kevin´s musical tastes, unless he had changed more than he seemed during his years out of Bellwood.

The attitude of Ben´s best friend and almost brother, as this one ran to greet Ben, just increased the hero´s suspects. Kevin was huffing, his face blushed and angrily frowning as he swiped his sweat forehead with a hankie.

"You took so long that I thought you woudn´t come anymore" he admonished as Ben stepped out of his car. 

"Sorry" Ben aphologized "I was stuck with some errands. Why is your face so red?"

"Oh this?" Kevin scratched the back of head "I was... pushing up. Haven´t much to do these days, y´know."

"Hmm. Okay. Let´s wait for Gwen, so I´ll tell you both about the mission."

"Forget her. She´s choosing her wedding dress with her mom and grandma" Kevin sighed as they strode to the bridge "If I know those two hags well, they won´t let my poor girl go until the shop closes"

"Huh-huh "Ben smiled as he shook a finger "Gwen´s just called and told me she´s on her way. It´ll just take a little because she has to go back to home to get her car. They went to the bridal shop with Aunty Lily´s." 

"No way!" Kevin exclaimed. His jaw dropped, giving enough space to put a big orange in his mouth "How did she escape?Using the "Statua" spell?"

"Dunno. Why don´t you ask her when she comes here?" Ben finished the subject as he reached one of the terminals and sit for an entertaining game.

Although Kevin´s new ship was slightly smaller than the gigantic jet from the old times, it had enough space to hold three cars and other advances. Like a small bunker with bathroom and even a with frigobar and other devices needed to prepare simple meals. There, Kevin was far more confortable than Gwen probably was in her own home.

In face of Kevin and Gwen´s insistence of marrying during their summer vacancies, Gwen´s parents asked that at least they´d in their house until their wedding. Despite her fiancee suspects, the Anodyte agreed merrily, seeing that as a proof that her mother and father were finally accepting her union with Kevin. But when the younger couple arrived to Bellwood carried with bagages, they found Gwen´s house crowded! Both sides of her family, the Tennysons and Wilkes (Natalies´ relatives), had come for the marriage as soon as they received the good news. Of course most of those people stayed in local hotels; but Natalie had received some of her closest relatives in her house, including her old son, Ken, and her mother, the "sweet" Grandma Grace. Still, Gwen´s parents opposed firmly that the young couple went to a hotel (as Kevin suggested, while he tossed the bags back into Gwen´s car). Grandma Grace would be brokenhearted if she thought she had expelled her beloved grandaughter from her own home! Besides, among the Wilkes family a commited couple NEVER slept together before the marriage!

It was obvious for anyone that had been planned; however, there wasn´t how to throw that on Frank and Natalie´s faces. Gwen still argued that she was more Tennyson than Wilkes, and that they weren´t in the las Century, but finally had to given up, by her father´s arguments. "Sweetie, we know, and certainly the Wilkes know too, that two young healthy people wouldn´t spend together five years living like Disney couples (which earned him a glare from his wife). But you know how these formalities are important for your mother and grandmother. You and Kevin will have plenty of time to be together after your wedding."

That way, Gwen resigned herself to share her former room with Grandma Grace - Ben woudln´t wish that even for Vilgax. Kevin would stay in Ken´s room. But the young Osmosian noticed immediately that his future brother-in-law wasn´t much happy about sharing his room, so he declined nicely the offer. Even with he and Gwen in separate rooms, it wouldn´t look much decent they staying under the same roof. He could find another place to stay. Excepting Gwen, who was a little annoyed at Kevin´s retreat, the rest of the family approved his decision, satisfied with his respect at the Wilkes´ traditions... at least until they learned where Kevin moved to. 

Everyone expected that he would be with his mother, but instead he preferred moving to his ship, where he would have more freedom. That made him loose a few points among the older Wilkes (Aunty Joyce referred to Kevin as a "homeless" in a reunion with her closest friends); by other hand, it earned him come admiration and envy among the younger members of the family. 

Ben had left his parents´ home years ago, but he felt like those boys when he visited Kevin. 

"Can´t believe! " he entused as he searched through the games options into Kevin´s terminal "You founded out Summo Slammer Tournament Edition IV?! Since my old videogame bust out, I never found this version again." He peeked above his shoulder at his friend, who was pacing in circles like a beast in a jail. Ben shook his head.

"If you´re like this now, I don´t want to be around when Gwen´ll go to the delivering room." he commentd.

"She should have teleported" Kevin mumbled, as he sunk in a chair close to Ben´s "C´mon, give meat least a hint! You called telling me to drop whatever I was doing because you had something urgent to tell us and now you´re full of secrets!"

"You just said you hadn´t much to do besides pushing up." Ben said with a frown. The older man backed away in embarassment.

"Well, actually... I was looking for a place for our honeymoon."Kevin confessed shyly. 

Ben´s eyes widened out in repproval.

"You STILL haven´t chosen a place?" he admonished " You´re marrying next week!"

"Don´t sweat it you too" the Osmosian stood up and pointed at Ben an annoyed finger "Gwen´s entire family was bitching us into going to the Niagara Falls. I ended telling up them that I was planning a surprise to my fiancée, in order to make them leave us alone. All those women found my idea veeeeery romantic." he finished, joining his hands together on his large chest to emphatize the women´s fussy attitude.

"And what does your 'fiancée' think?"

"She told me that you two had visited Niagara when you were kids,so she didn´t see the need to go back there." Kevin said with a shrug, too distracted to notice the strange look on Ben´s face. Ten years ago, soon after kid Ben and Gwen´s visit to Niagara Falls with Granpa Max, the psychotic Kevin 11 had came after them with Vilgax. No wonder Gwen hadn´t good remembrances from that place. Fortunately, the present Kevin was worried with subjects much deeper than his past sins.

"Why just married couples have to see water falling, after all? To want to pee all the time?" he asked. 

"I guess that it´s your last chance to run away" Ben joked "I´ve heard that barrel factories are getting rich, there."

"I´m not going to need a barrel to jump from a skycraper." Kevin sighed heavily.

The bitterness contained in that phrase made Ben turn around in shock. Kevin was sunk on a chair, his head and arms leaning on the control pannel. 

"C´mon" the Ultimatrix own turned off his game, stood up and walked toward his best friend. Tenderly, he took Kevin´s shoulder "I know how it´s hard to put up with aunty Lily´s relatives - well, my side of the family has a few , too" he added, remembering of Aunty Vera "But I never saw you caring so much about about what people say about you. Excepting..." something dawned on him, causing to Ben´s eyes wide up in alarm "...Gwen´s?"

Kevin didn´t answer or look at him, his mind lost in sad thoughts. Ben stood in front of Kevin and bent over him, forcing the Osmosian to look up at his face. 

"Is it something up between you two?"he demanded.

Kevin looked away for a few seconds, before hesitating and giving in.

"If you´re asking we had a fight, no, we hadn´t." he explained grudgingly "It´s just I´m pissed off because of Gwen´s bachelorette party."

"But you two had promised to not have any bachelor or bachelorette parties!" Ben exclaimed in disbelief.

Gwen had been very enphatic to her family and friends that she didn´t want that kind of celebration. Kevin had supported her, even though he was visibly reluctant about giving up on his bachelor party and the classic cake with a dancer inside.

"And since when anyone into that family respects our wishes? I eavesdropped some of her futile cousins planning the party. They´re going to drag Gwen to a hotel room with some silly excuse, then the doorbell rings and comes a stripper dressed as a cop, y´know how it is. ' Gwendolyne Tennyson, you´re under arrest' and then he takes all off, standing only with briefs and cop hat..." he trailled off., because Ben was cracking up. The younger man couldn´t control it, so he fell from his chair. He only didn´t turned it upside down because the chair was stuck on the floor.

Kevin jumped to his feet and grabbed Ben´s shoulders, giving him a very angry shaking up - a remarkable act, since now Ben was as brawny as him and slightly taller. 

"You think this is a joke?" Kevin snarled.

"Sorry", Ben stood up and rubbed his eyes, the look in his face denying the aphologize "I was laughing cause I can´t figure out Gwen brushing onto a stripper clad on a cop hat. Why haven´t you told her?"

"Why? Doooh! Whenever I try to talk to your cousin, one of those hags comes from nowhere and pulls her to see this or ask that. And when one finishes, other comes and then another and another. When they finally leave Gwen alone, she´s too stressed to listen whatever I have to say so we end up having an argument. Same thing if I try to call her by the phone. I can´t even remember the last time we went out.. it´s all for the preparatives, the preparatives! I´m always left to put up with her bratty cousins ' Hey, Kev, what do I have to do to become Ben 10´s sidekick? Does it take a contest, or I´ll just have to wrap myself with some aluminiun sheet?'" he mimmicked his tormentors´ gibberings in a falsetto voice "And the old guys are even worse. They keep giving me crossed looks and whisper whenever I walk past them, but not so low that I can´t what they say."

Ben awaited patiently until Kevin paused to breath.

"I knew that it had to be something else to make you so depressed. The Kevin I know would hit the roof and make sure that the stripper wouldn´t go to the hotel." he simply commented.

"You see, even I can´t recognize myself." Kevin gave him a very bitter look" Worse, I can´t recognize Gwen anymore. That people ask her things the whole time just to troll her, because they always do the opposite of what she means. Initially, she went mad at this, but then her mom came and gave her the look, and Gwen had to give in. Now she doesn´t even argue anymore. It´s like... something is fading inside." he concluded as he lowered his head and closed his eyes, as if it was too painful to express the fear that had been burning inside of him for weeks.

The smooth weight of his friend´s hand on Kevin´s shoulder made the osmosian look around. Ben was smiling at him.

"I can proof that you´re wrong." he started "Gw..."

A low, persistent noise interrupted him, calling the men´s attention for the main control pannel. Right in the middle, a blue, shining buld let them know that someone was using a plumber badge to open the ramp. Kevin turned on a screen to confirm that the last member of the trio was coming. He shot at his best friend a warning look.

" Not a word about this, or you´ll kiss all the Summo Slammers goodbye."


End file.
